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April Fool’s Day is an age-old tradition. Pranks are, at this point, a given for April 1st. If you’re interested in a little background (courtesy of Wikipedia)…

The Internet has been buzzing for the past few days over some of the most well-executed pranks – and none are more so than those of the tech community. So, without further ado, here are my top several neekly April Fool’s Day Pranks of 2013! In no particular order…

Twitter announced that it will henceforth be a two-teired service. Anyone can use “Twttr,” but you only get consonants and the letter “y.” Upgrade to the premium service, “Twitter” for $5/month, and get unlimited consonant and vowel usage. Twitter also linked to this tool, which turns regular speech into an incomprehensible, vowel-less mess. Enjoy.

Samsung announces its newest product. “SMART Eco Trees intake CO2 and release oxygen to support a healthier environment. In the process it also uses a natural filtering system to eliminate pollutants. Eco Trees also help keep the humidity at a pleasant level. These features are fully automatic and require only the addition of water and S (Solar) Beams.” I see what you did there, Samsung.

Virgin Atlantic Glass-Bottomed Plane

British Virgin Atlantic customers flying in their newest plane model, Little Red, will be afforded an unparalleled view of the British countryside through the floor of the glass-bottomed plane.

Google Glass is a ubiquitous, head-mounted computer that Google is currently developing. The “Explorer Edition” will soon be available to a select group of people based on their responses to the prompt “If I had Glass…” for $1,500. A consumer version of the product will likely be released by the end of 2013/beginning of 2014 for even less.

When you put on Google Glass, you don’t immediately see a screen – you have to focus on the top right area of your view, and suddenly the small box materializes. This is undoubtedly to make it unobtrusive. (Or perhaps Google is trying to adopt some of Apple’s minimalism.) However, I feel that this extra step – looking up and refocusing to see the screen – is unnecessary. This kind of technology should be fully integrated into users’ views. Its uses are also relatively limited for what it is. Yes, it can complete the majority of tasks smartphones can: web search, weather, taking photos, etc. But it could do so much more. Continue reading →